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Author: Gina-Marie Cheeseman

Gina-Marie is a freelance writer and journalist armed with a degree in journalism, and a passion for social justice, including the environment and sustainability. She writes for various websites, and has made the 75+ Environmentalists to Follow list by Mashable.com.

General Mills announced its human rights policy earlier this month. Although the policy does not contain anything new, it is the first time the company has released a public statement on the topic. We spoke with Catherine Gunsbury, director of sustainability and transparency for General Mills, to learn more.

Many of the largest players in the palm oil industry have made commitments to make their supply chains more sustainable. But what do all the commitments really mean? Luckily, the Rainforest Action Network can help us sort through it all with its latest progress report.

Even when a Chevrolet Volt battery can’t power the car any longer, it still has some juice left. That juice can be used to create electricity. Specifically, the juice from five Volt extended-range electric car batteries is being used to help power a new General Motors data center.

General Mills announced earlier this month that it is investing $50,000 in the Canada-based Prairie Organic Grain Initiative, a multi-year program with the goal of building resiliency and stability in the organic field-crop sector. Jeff Harmening, executive vice president and CEO of General Mills, told investors that the company’s goal is to “build a $1 billion natural and organic business by 2020.”

The federal government just may recommend that Americans eat less meat when new guidelines are released in the fall. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has outlined recommendations that include reducing red meat and processed meat consumption and eating more fruits and vegetables.

The EPA’s Green Power Partnership includes more than 1,300 partner organizations using billions of kilowatt-hours of green power each year. Beyond reducing carbon impact, joining the partnership makes financial sense. We talked to the EPA and Tamara “TJ” DiCaprio, director of environmental sustainability at Microsoft, a partner company that uses more than 2.4 billion kWh of green power a year, to find out more.

Walmart, the largest food retailer in the U.S., recently announced a new animal welfare policy. It’s a policy animal rights groups are calling groundbreaking as it engages the company’s entire supply chain and covers a wide range of issues from antibiotic use to housing systems.

A few weeks ago, Mother Jones published an investigation into Starbucks’ bottled water brand, Ethos Water, revealing that it is bottled in Merced, California, ranked as being in “exceptional drought.” This week, the company announced it would move bottling operations from California to Pennsylvania, but the new location also poses problems.